Streets of Rage 2

The Good
Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckles to some) is Sega's kick-ass answer to Final Fight. It's success as an arcade and cartridge almost guaranteed a sequel, but fans were kept waiting and hoping for a bit. Would the wait be worth it? Heck! Yeah!

The game has quite a bit of memory for a video cartridge and the extra memory was put to good use. The original characters have been greatly improved upon, both in terms of design and attack moves.

More combo and special attacks are available, and all are easy to execute. New characters were added to the franchise, each with their own backstory and attack moves.

The graphics are some of the best seen in a Sega Genesis game and they are accompanied by some totally awesome music.

If you ever doubted the capacity of the Sega Genesis to produce some great, 16-bit audio and visual effects, you have it to look and listen to this game.

The Bad
It is difficult to find serious faults with Streets Of Rage 2. If you are not into a side scrolling, brawler then the game may seem a tad two-dimensional.

The additional ability to battle a friend in a Street Fighter 2-type arena is nice, but clearly almost added as an afterthought.

The Bottom Line
Streets Of Rage 2 is everything a great video game sequel should be. It is everything a great side scrolling, beat 'em up should be. If you are in the mood to beat up an army of vicious gang members and their sinister (and incredibly well financed) employer, then this is the game for you.